By: Renewables NOW

Climate and impact fund manager Camco announced on Monday that it has achieved the first close of its new REPP 2 debt fund, securing USD 107 million (EUR 101m) to invest in renewables in Africa, with an additional USD 78 million in commitments subject to conditions.

The fund is designed as a blended finance vehicle to channel public and private investment to the distributed and small-scale renewable energy market in Sub-Saharan Africa. Throughout its lifespan, REPP 2 aims to support the deployment of 330 MW of new capacity, providing clean energy access to more than 7.7 million people.

The fund's backers include the Green Climate Fund (GCF), Norfund, which is the Norwegian Investment Fund for developing countries, the Dutch entrepreneurial development bank FMO, the Belgian Investment Company for Developing Countries (BIO), impact-focused family offcie Ceniarth, and the Renewable Energy Performance Platform (REPP), which is is funded by UK International Development and managed by Camco.

“Africa’s energy transition is happening. It is critical to invest in the businesses building the African energy grid of the future, which is decentralised, renewable and reliable,” said Ben Hugues, REPP 2 director at Camco.

“This requires significant and urgent scaling up of finance to enable innovative companies to scale and generate both attractive returns and significant climate impact,” Hugues added.

“REPP is proud to be an anchor investor in REPP 2, which builds on what we’ve learned from REPP. The blended finance structure of REPP 2 has attracted a range of investors, from DFIs to private, underlining the critical role blended finance has in building the African grid of the future,” said REPP board member Andrew Lucas.